Restaurants

Linden Stores

Linden Stores | Islington Wine Shop & Restaurant

Yorkshire has inspired a lot of things that go by gum.

And at long last, food & wine is now one of them.

That food and wine comes from Highbury’s Linden Stores, a restaurant/wine shop named after the road in North Yorkshire where co-founder Chris Boustead (Opera Tavern, Ten Bells, James Cochran) grew up. He runs the place with his business/romantic partner Laura Christie (co-founder of Oklava, Shoreditch and Kyseri, Fitzrovia) with “occasional assistance” from their toddler.

The space itself has an unpolished ruggedness to it, with the walls dressed variously in bare brick, glazed tiles, or stripped plaster, while exposed lighting dangles from the ceiling. Upstairs is the wine shop, with racks of the stuff slapped against one wall, and bar seating snaking around the opposite. Which brings us neatly to-

THE WINE

Laura handles the grape-hooch, all of which can be drunk in-house (for a flat £10 corkage fee on top of the bottle price), or taken away – and there’s wine available by the glass, rotating each day but always priced at a fiver. The selection is quite well curated, with a couple of dozen red & whites to partner up with some sparkling, rosé, and even orange numbers.

THE FOOD

Heading downstairs is where you’ll find the restaurant proper. The menu changes regularly, and is marked up fresh on the blackboard dangling above the hearth each day, but the general just is that it’s British, with a few European influences thrown in. And it’s *all built to work with wine. You can expect the likes of West Mersea oysters with lemon & mint; asparagus with crispy egg & smoked cheese; torched plaice with elderflower & fish broth; or pork belly with pickled red cabbage.

Of course, you can try all the wines before you buy, and the staff are all armed to the teeth with enough know-how to talk you through pretty much everything on the racks.

If you fancy flapping your gums.

NOTE: Linden Stores is open now. You can find out more, and make a booking at their website right HERE.